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"Command Performance" No. 000162
The Arthur Magazine Email Bulletin
September 16, 2009
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Let's get it happening!
1. JASS
From Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press, 2006), pages 369-70, :
When "Dope" [Breedlove] and his crew took a break, Reef [Traverse] asked him, "What was that everybody at your table was drinking? Can I get you one?"
"Ramos gin fizz. Get yourself one too."
The bartender shook them up at length in a long silver shaker, to some slow internal syncopation. When Reef brought the drinks back, the table was in deep discussion of Anarchist theory.
"Your own Benjamin Tucker wrote of the Land League," a young man was saying in an unmistakably Irish voice, "in such glowing terms—the closest the world has ever come to perfect Anarchist organization."
"Were the phrase not self-contradictory," commented "Dope" Breedlove.
"Yet I've noticed the same thing when your band plays—the most amazing social coherence, as if you all shared the same brain."
"Sure," agreed "Dope," "but you can't call that organization."
What do you call it?"
"Jass."
2. ARTHUR WELCOMES...
a. Thurs, Sept 17, Philly: Arthur welcomes MV & EE for all-ages homegrown show at Frankford Gardens/ The Compound (2037 Frankford Avenu (map)). The Ecstatic Peace! recording artists will be joined by good ol' Willie Lane (info, mp3) on guitar. Blood Like Mine (Geoff Bucknum & Rosali Middleman) will open. The gate on Sepviva opens at 8pm, music begins promptly at 8:30pm. $5. All ages encouraged. This is a home, not a bar, so remember to bring your own locally brewed beverage. More info on this humble event with lovely pictures here: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/15/mvee
b. Mon, Sept 21, Los Angeles: Arthur and When You Awake blog welcome Doug Paisley, more at the Echo, FREE. Canadian country-folk musician Doug Paisley's debut album was released late last year, its understated beauty capturing the admiration of Arthur's C and D, who were scheduled to review it in their column in the unpublished Arthur No. 32. Mr. Paisley (who is now being "managed" by Arthur's Jay Babcock) will be traveling to California to perform as a solo artist for the first time ever in the Golden State (he's been there before as one-half of the Dark Hand and Lamplight duo with artist Shary Boyle, opening for Bonnie Prince Billy on a jaunt in 2006. Monday night is the first show. More info: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/15/sept21
3. A LOVELY MINUTE FORTY
Courtesy R.A. Pleuger, Arthur's man in Munich: Rod Stewart singing “Gasoline Alley” a capella in a Berlin backyard, 1970, on film: http://bit.ly/KAdWM
4. "INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY" VS. "TECHNOPATHOCRACY"
Timely new video interview (6 parts, about an hour in total) with the ever-brilliant Peter Lamborn Wilson—aka Hakim Bey, author of the Temporary Autonomous Zone idea, and frequent contributor to Arthur Magazine—on "intentional community," which he sees as “the thin edge of the wedge of resistance” to “technopathocracy." Watch it here: http://bit.ly/JM6SU
5. NEW TUNEAGE LOADED UP ON ARTHURMAG.COM
a. EXCLUSIVO to ARTHUR!!!: YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND "Waiting for the D Train," tough-funk wailer from new studio album: http://bit.ly/7m0Lr
b. Sticky new one by Dave Reeves’ Alabaman glue-wave faves WIZZARD SLEEVE, off their debut LP "Make the World Go Away" out October 2 from the mighty HoZac Records of Chicago, Illinois: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/16/wizzard-sleeve
c. Stunning blister-on-the-fingers rendition of a previously unreleased TIM BUCKLEY song by the man himself, live 1967, off the new Tompkins Square release — click here to hear it:http://bit.ly/13MvyF. Hard to believe that this particular song wasn't ever recorded for any of his studio albums, it's a beautiful winner.
d. New OM music, tour poster, tourdates: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/15/om-tour-dates
e. Vintage small-press gospel soul from REVEREND DOUGLAS BELL AND THE STAGE CRUISERS—"The Bitter and the Sweet" off their "Nuclear Blast" album, issued sometime in the '70s, re-released via Big Legal Mess Records—"Green grass don't stay green every day!/Everything green sure will die/You got to learn to liiiiiiiive/with the bitter and the sweet, yeah yeah/down here in this old world"—http://bit.ly/31cC3x
f. Rockin’ new DEVENDRA BANHART jam live in San Diego, with Devendra consigned to a seat by a broken rib... Imagine this song with him at full power... Check the shaky vid:
http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/11/rockin-new-devendra-jam-live
g. Live CRAMPS at City Gardens (Trenton, NJ circa ‘81 maybe ‘82?) show, courtesy the network of Cramps fans and the folks at Tequila Sunrise Records of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Original source is unknown. "What I get free/you have to buy!"—http://bit.ly/4Bes5s—R.I.P. LUX INTERIOR
6. RE-SCREWED
"Military Chief Says More Troops Needed for Afghan War" — headline from Sept. 15, 2009 New York Times
Hmm.
Maybe it's time to revisit "SCREWED" by the great Peter Kuper, an EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK comic strip that Kuper submited to Arthur for publication in our anti-war/empire issue, No. 5, published in June 2003 when 90% of the USA was in favor of invading Iraq, with David Cross on the cover as crazed jingoist god-blessed S.U.V.-driving soccer mom: 50,000 copies distributed free across North America. It was probably the most succinct piece—and certainly the most prophetic—that was contributed to the mag. The piece never ran after Arthur's co-owner/publisher at the time, L**** K******, got cold feet. Dang! Anyways, here it is, several years too late. Read it and weep: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/15/click-to-enlarge-screwed-by-peter-kuper-2002
ARTHUR NO. 5 is now SOLD OUT, gone forever, peacenik fanboy. BUT! You can download it and see how (UNFORTUNATELY FOR ALL OF US) right we were. Features David Cross, ...Chris Hedges, David Byrne, Patti Smith, Alan Moore, Michael Moorcock, Daniel Pinchbeck, Godspeed You Black Emperor, art spiegelman, Carol Swain, Kristine McKenna on the Vietnam-era Peace Tower on Sunset (later covered in ArtForum, doncha know) and tons more righteous contributors... in PDF (11mb) here: http://www.arthurmag.com/pdfs/arthur5.pdf
Where's war criminal Dick Cheney now? Maybe call his wife Lynne V. Cheney's assistant at the American Enterprise Institute and see if they know?: 202-862-5918
Cheney, Karl Rove, Henry Kissinger and other villains have their big-$$$ speaking engagements booked through http://www.harrywalker.com -- give 'em a call to check on availability...
7. "YOU LIVE IN THE CEMENT OF THE AUTHORITY INSTRUCTORS" — S.F. DIGGERS, 1967
The Diggers Papers No. 25 has been posted. You can view all of the Diggers Papers posted so far here: http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers
7. NOW-APPROPRIATE VIDEO POETICS
a. New batshit piece "Basement Bleeds" from JIMMY JOE ROCHE, the Baltimore-based co-maker of Ultimate Reality (with Dan Deacon) and other greatnesses of recent years: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/15/basement-bleeds-by-jimmy-joe-roche
b. Long-lost vid for seminal/terminal "World Destruction" by TIME ZONE: Truly one of the greatest videos ever made, for one of the most visionary songs of the time (1984--midway through the Reagan Nightmare Years), shoot, of ALL time. Iit still singes! Two visionary tricksters (Afrika Bambaataa and John Lydon nee Rotten) with an unbeatable band (Bernie Worrell*Nicky Skopelitis*Bill Laswell*Aïyb Dieng), telling it like it is: http://bit.ly/136xMF
c. Vintage John Lydon face-pulling/dancing in '80s PUBLIC IMAGE LTD videos from their Kroq/91X-friendly period—"This Is Not a Love Song," "Rise"—http://bit.ly/2AJuDk
d. Clip from lost WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS-narrated documentary on ayahuasca: http://bit.ly/111JqX
e. "Extreme Detox" employing an ayahuasca course, featuring late TONY WILSON of Joy Division/Factory Records/Hacienda/24 Hr Party People fame, from British telly three years ago: http://bit.ly/4mAZ99
f. HAPPY ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR video: http://bit.ly/3b9Muk
8. A RECIPE FROM THE ARCHIVES
MF Doom's "Villainous Mac & Cheeze" (from Arthur No. 14/Jan 2005): "http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/16/mf-dooms-villainous-mac-cheeze
9. DEAL WITH THE NEW ARTHUR COMICS
a. Michael Deforge just got his very first comic book back from the printers! It's called LOSE #1 and it's published by Koyama Press. Contact Michael for ordering information! Here's a three page sample that will punch your god in the face and leave you asking begging for more: http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/14/lose-1-by-michael-deforge
b. Aaaaaaand here's the debut of new Arthur comic serial "GWC" by Jesse Moynihan, creator of 'forming' and 'follow me': http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/09/09/gwc-by-jesse-moynihan
10. AN UNCONDITIONAL NO TO THE PRESENT SOCIETY
In 1968 the The Living Theatre, an anarchist collective theater troupe led by Julian Beck and Judith Malina, triumphantly returned to America from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Their new production, which has already taken Europe by storm, was Paradise Now, an intense, challenging distillation and enactment of every principle that the Living Theatre held dear.
"Life, revolution and theater are three words for the same thing: an unconditional NO to the present society," said Julian Beck. The staging of Paradise Now—a series of provocative scenarios involving group nudity, ideological declamations and the like—attempted to dissolve the boundaries of human interactions, forging a new harmony between the actors and audience. Of this process, Beck wrote:
"Collective creation is the secret weapon of the people... This play is a voyage from the many to the one and from the one to the many. It's a spiritual voyage and a political voyage, a voyage for the actors and the spectators. The play is a vertical ascent toward permanent revolution, leading to revolutionary action here and now. The revolution of which the play speaks is the beautiful, non-violent, anarchist revolution. The purpose of the play is to lead to a state of being in which non-violent revolutionary action is possible."
The result of this shared voyage was the visionary, flamboyant creation of a temporary anarchist collective—free from the enslavements of war, violence, the State, money and the self. Audiences and critics were alternately enraptured and repulsed, radicalized and shocked. Was this the end of theater? Or the beginning of something else? Whatever it was, it was unforgettable, and it rippled into the increasingly volatile culture of the time via the subsequent work of people like the Doors' Jim Morrison, who famously followed the Living Theatre's "Paradise Now" around California and helped fund their work.
Director Marty Topp's film of "Paradise Now," produced by Ira Cohen, featuring music by the MC5, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Apache Indians and others, is an intense, unforgettable 40-minute film that documents what happened when the Living Theatre staged Paradise Now in America. We have packaged it with "Emergency!", director Gwen Brown's excellent but little-seen 30-minute 1968 documentary on the Living Theatre; a double-sided poster; an elaborate 36-page booklet of Living Theatre archival materials; exclusive video interviews with Living Theatre members Judith Malina, Julian Beck and Hanon Raznikov; the complete Paradise Now! script; and much more.
Arthur, together with the DVD's producer Universal Mutant, is making Paradise Now available to all at the lowest price we can afford: $29.95 in the USA, and its equivalent for overseas customers. We printed an edition of 1000. To order via PayPal, click here to go to the Arthur Store.
11. A FINAL OFFERING
A snippet of wisdom thought from botanist-poet Dale Pendell, speaking informally at the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel, Switzerland in March 2008, courtesy Gyrus's always provocative and thoughtful Dreamflesh blog:
"[T]he people who have lived close to the earth for a long time seem to respect these rites and rituals. They feel a sense of gratitude. Even Nietzsche said, 'A sense of gratitude is seemly.' Our existence here rests on many lives who have gone before us, generations of people. And not only people; all sorts of beings that have lived, and suffered, and died, and micro-organisms creating even the air that we breathe, and the topsoil, and all of it. So every day of our lives is a gift of countless generations that have provided it, for our benefit. So a sense of gratitude is right, and it is good to give something back. It’s good to take a moment to place an offering, or a word or something. Ultimately I don’t think we can prove this. But I say, the other side can’t prove their way either. It comes down to a wager. And I put my wager on a green square, and to do these things, to find a way to move in beauty ourselves, does change the world. It’s the only way we can change the world."
Read more here.
In the green square,
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